_SPOUTS ASS TUE& IAY
Top reserve Rolling with the times September 30 1997
Nebraska soccer sophomore Amy Walsh would The National Museum of Roller Skating is right ^ *_
like to start, but is content with her current role here in Lincoln, where it has chronicled the proud
on the NU soccer team. PAGE 7 history of the pastime for 17 years. PAGE 9 WALKING On SUNMNE
Sunny and pleasant, high 80. Fa# tonight, low 47.
•>
VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 26
NU regents approve hospital merger
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
NU President Dennis Smith asked
' the NU Board of Regents on Monday
night to quickly and unanimously
s approve the merger of University and
Clarkson hospitals in Omaha and
their 31 clinics.
And about one minute later -
: without discussion or dissenters - the
: regents followed Smith’s advice.
Effective Wednesday, the hospi
tals will share their facilities and
physicians under the title Nebraska
Health System.
“It’s going to work,” said Bill
Berndt, University of Nebraska
\ Medical Center chancellor. “I don’1
have a single doubt in my mind.”
Historically, Bishop Clarkson
Memorial Hospital physicians ques
tioned the merger because they feared
their private practices would take a
back seat to university physicians’ aca
demic interests after the merger. But
the Clarkson Hospital board of direc
tors approved the merger Sept. 15.
Berndt said the merger holds
great financial benefits for the uni
versity because of a broadened
patient base for UNMC operations
and an improved range of facilities
for teaching and research.
Without merging with another
hospital, University Hospital would
have run the risk of getting into “seri
ous financial difficulty” in an era of
managed care, he said. But the sys
tern’s larger number of physicians and
larger patient base should prevent a
financial mishap.
The system will boast 835 hospi
tal beds, 581 physicians and 4,889
employees shared by the hospitals
and 31 Omaha medical clinics.
University Hospital now includes
306 physicians, 434 beds and oper
ates 13 clinics.
UNMC students will have access
to both university and Clarkson-affil
iated physicians and facilities under
the new system. Although the system
will not employ physicians directly,
both merging hospitals will lease
their physicians and facilities to the
system for a time.
For UNMC to lease all hospital
facilities to the new system, the board
also approved Monday repaying
about $38.5 million in issued hospital
bonds that funded a new outpatient
care unit. Hospital reserves will repay
the bonds, which would not mature
until 2005. The new system will repay
the university’s debt.
Berndt and UNMC student
Regent Sarah Svoboda said the sys
tem’s shared physicians and facilities
would make UNMC hugely appeal
ing to prospective students.
The new system will remain the
primary teaching facility for educa
tors at UNMC, and Clarkson physi
cians will share leadership of some
departments, including radiology,
pathology, anesthesia and occupa
tional medicine.
“We’ve never been able to expose
our students to vigorous private prac
tice, but we can now,” Berndt said.
“Students may become attracted to
our new kind of outpatient teaching
activity.”
Svoboda said the merger decreas
es the student to physician ratio; and
students look forward to the opportu
nity to practice medicine in another
facility and have great respect for
Clarkson physicians, she said. Many
Clarkson physicians were educated at
UNMC, Svoboda said.
Berndt said the merger of such
large health-care providers would not
eliminate competition and cause a rise
in patients’ health-care costs. The hos
pitals are No. 1 and No. 2 in Omaha in
Please see MERGER on 6
btate s cancer
program seen
as role model
By Ted Taylor
Assignment Reporter
A program in Nebraska that helps provide
breast and cervical cancer screening for
women has set the standard for other states, a
representative from the Department of Health
and Human Services said Monday.
“Many states are looking to Nebraska as a
role model on how this is done,” said Debra
Tomlinson-Hoffman, program manager for
the department’s Every Woman Matters pro
gram.
The program, which began in Nebraska in
1995, is joined with local agencies in 47 coun
ties and three American Indian tribes to help
women between the ages of 50 and 64 get
affordable, quality cancer screenings.
Nebraska, thanks to the help of the pro
gram, has met the national breast cancer
screening goals four years ahead of the year
2000 deadline, Lt. Gov. Kim Robak said
Mondav.
“Not only have we met the goals,” she said,
“we’ve made a difference and saved lives in
Nebraska.”
Nearly 550 doctors offices, mammography
units, hospitals and laboratories throughout the
state have joined together to help cut the costs
of screening exams for at-risk women who are
least likely to participate in regular screening,
Tomlinson-Hoffman said.
Forty-six percent of the 27,295 women
involved in the program have annual incomes '
of 100 percent or less of the federal poverty
guidelines, and 51 percent of the women
enrolled have no insurance coverage.
The response and the results of the pro
gram have been amazing, Tomlinson-Hoffman
said.
She said that 271 cases of cervical cancer
were detected by the screenings, 94 percent of
which were found in the earliest and most
Please see CANCER on 6
.n.„, ^ .. ..... SandySummers/DN
JOHN ARCHER, a strength coachior the NU football team, looks at the new bronze statue that will be placed in front of the east side of
Memorial Stadium. Archer, who was one of the models for the statue, had to undergo a full-body cast mold for the life-size statue.
_ \
Statue immortalizes Huskers
By Terra Chapek
Staff Reporter
————^ . ~ ■ /
The Cornhusker defense is often com
pared to stone or steel, but most people dpn’t
think of bronze as a popular metaphorical
alloy.
On Monday, that changed.
A bronze statue, titled “Husker Legacy,”
was installed Monday outside of the east end
of Memorial Stadium ^ commemorate the
tradition of Nebraska football. The statue
depicts six Husker defensive players tackling
^player from Kansas State University.
Fred Hoppe, the Malcohn artist who
directed the making of the statue, said
“Legacy” serves as a tribute to everyone who
makes Nebraska football successful.
‘“Husker Legacy’ will be dedicated to the
fans, students, coaches and players that make
this legacy possible,” Hoppe said.
John Ingram, the director of facilities for
the Athletic Department, said the members of
the Athletic Department agreed to oversee the
statue after Hoppe approached them two
years ago.
The statue, weighing about 2 tons and val
ued at $1 million, was funded by private
donations, Ingram said.
After one year of research and construc
tion, Hoppe said, the sculpture was completed
Wednesday at a foundry in Lander, Wyo.
It was scheduled for installation Friday,
Please see STATUE on 6
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